“Ugh.” Izzie groaned, stepping out of the bathroom stall. “Remind me never to eat that many tacos before jumping around on stage.” She whined, rinsing her mouth out.
“It was only two.” Victoria shrugged.
“Yeah, two too many.” Izzie chuckled.
“Are you feeling ok? You barfed this morning, too.”
“I think I’m just nervous.” Izzie scrunched up her nose, inspecting her outfit in the mirror. She was wearing a black, high-waisted, pencil skirt with white pin stripes, and a matching cropped vest, a metallic orange bra peeking out from underneath and a black fedora. The idea behind the video was sort of psychedelic futuristic mobsters. No one had any idea what was going on, but the director seemed confident, so they just went along with it.
“Nervous about what?”
“You know that book I wrote? The publisher is sending the first copy over to me this afternoon.”
“Your autobiography?”
“Don’t call it that. Old people and has-beens write autobiographies. You sound like that Ashlee Simpson song.” Izzie giggled. “But yeah. That one.”
“That’s so exciting! Congratulations.” Victoria hugged her. The bathroom door opened a crack and Steve cautiously stuck his head in, covering his eyes.
“Hey guys, they need you back on the set now.”

Izzie skipped into Pete’s bedroom and heard the shower running behind the closed bathroom door. She sat down on the spare bed to wait, placing the large bowl she was carrying on the nightstand. “Sweet.” She grabbed the half eaten box of Cheese-Its she had left there the day before and began munching on them. The water shut off and a moment later, the door swung open. Izzie shrieked and fell off the bed. Cheese-Its flew everywhere.
“Fuck!” Pete grabbed a towel off the floor, wrapping it around his waist. “What are you doing here?”
“Why are you naked?”
“It’s MY room! Nobody’s home, how did you even get in?”
“I broke in the basement window.” She scrambled back up onto the bed.
“So now you’re a criminal?” he smirked. “Can I get dressed now?” he glanced down at the towel.
“Yes please.” He went back into the bathroom, reemerging a few minutes later in jeans and a tee shirt.
“So why are you breaking into my house?” He sat down opposite her and she looked everywhere in the room except at him.
“Well, my brother Alex came to visit, and he bought me a goldfish.”

Izzie was sitting on a small couch in the corner of the studio with Steve, Andy, Joe and Brendon while they all waited for the directors to set up the cameras and lights for the next scene. They had decided to use all their friends in the video and it was turning into a lot of waiting around and even more goofing off. The shoot was taking twice as long as it should have. “Hey, how come Pete’s the only one not here?” Brendon asked, looking around.
“Why don’t you ask her?” Steve nodded towards Izzie.
“Hey! I asked him to give me some space. I didn’t tell him to completely avoid me.” She grumbled.
“He’s just trying to do what you want. You’re being a bitch about it.” Steve snapped.
“Well he’s being a slut.”
“Whatever. I’m not talking about it anymore.” He sighed.
“Good.” She glared at him.
“You know…” Andy began, quietly. “Back with Arma, and when this band was starting out, even when you two weren’t speaking. None of his friends were allowed to go out with you. You were off limits.”
“Are you serious?” Izzie said, almost in a whisper.
“If any of us even looked at you wrong, he threatened to beat the crap out of us.” he nodded.
“Is that why no one would go out with me? I couldn’t even get a date to the prom!”
“Hey, you went with me!” Joe whined. Everyone chuckled slightly.
“Yeah, after Pete told you to take me.”
“Even when you weren’t his, you were his.” Steve added.
“Aw, that’s adorable.” Brendon laughed.
“Shut up! This is so fucked up. I’m going to get something to eat.” Izzie groaned, trudging off.

“A goldfish?”
“Yeah.” She picked up the bowl, looking through the glass at a fish with big bulgy eyes and little spiky fins. “I named him Pete…because he’s ugly.” She grinned.
“Nice.” He gave her a look.
“So, what are we doing today?”
“I have to write a paper.”
“Boring.”
“You can stay if you want.”
“No.” She sighed. “I have to go burn the image of your naked balls from my mind.” She shuddered, walking out of the room with the fishbowl.

“Which chapter’s about me?” Taylor asked as everyone crowded around the small book, flipping through the pages.
“Forget you, where am I?” Gabe pulled the book out of his hands.
“You guys aren’t until the end.” Izzie said from off to the side, her foot tapping as she bit her nails nervously.
“Well that’s dumb. The most important people should be in the front.” Gabe smirked.
“It’s about everything that’s happened to me before the band got big and the Internet started chronicling every single thing I did. And I need it back, it hasn’t been released yet and I’m not technically supposed to let anyone read it.” She tried prying it out of Gabe’s hands. He tossed it to Ryan, who stuck it between the couch cushions under his butt. “Don’t think I won’t go down there after it!” She pounced on him, trying to wrestle him out of the way. He shrieked and slid out of the way.
“Fine, you can have it.” He laughed.
“Dude, what was that?” Gabe exclaimed. “Last time you’re on the team.” Everyone laughed.
“She bit me!”
“And I’ll do it again.” She stood up, straightening her outfit. “Victoria, bathroom?” she nodded her head in the direction. Victoria nodded and followed her.

“Hello?” Izzie sighed into the phone.
“Hey, it’s Joe. Me and some of the guys are going to get pizza, we wanted to see if you wanted to come.
“No, I’m too depressed to eat cheesy deliciousness.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Pete’s dead.”
“What?! What’s going to happen to the band?!” He panicked.
“I don’t know. I think he’s been eating the glitter from his sparkly castle, and choked. Taylor is coming to flush him down the toilet.”
“I…don’t know what you’re talking about.” Joe said, confused.
“Pete the fish.”
“Aw, poor Pete the fish. Are you going to get a new one?”
“I can’t replace Pete!” she gasped.
“Maybe not replace, maybe just, you know, reuse the bowl. How long did you have him for anyway?”
“Two weeks.”

“What’s up?” Victoria asked once the bathroom door closed.
“I want you to read it.” Izzie handed the book over.
“But I thought no one’s supposed to.”
“Yeah…I lied. I want someone to read it and tell me how it is. For real, no bull shit. And I need to know if I made these guys sound like dicks before I let them read it.”
“Yeah, sure.” She nodded.
“I never went back and read it once I was done. I don’t actually remember what I said about everyone.”
“No problem. I’ll read it tonight…maybe tomorrow too. It’s kind of long.” She wrinkled her nose, glancing down at the book.
“Thanks so much.” Izzie sighed. “I think I’m going to puke again.”
“Maybe you have food poisoning.” Victoria shrugged.

Hope you enjoyed. Please review!

When I was 7, I did have a goldfish named after my brother because he was weird looking. He lasted 5 months though until I accidentally sucked him up in the filter.